News

U.S. builds international coalition

The United States stepped up its efforts to win international backing for its "war on terrorism" Sept. 26, courting both NATO and United Nations support. Meanwhile, U.S. forces steamed into the Gulf region for possible retaliatory strikes against Afghanistan

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sept. 26 that Bush would also consider seeking U.N. support for any future military strike — although he stressed that Washington believed it had the right to defend itself.

But there were indications that the coalition would be far from air-tight. Western hopes that Iran, a neighbor of Afghanistan and longtime U.S. foe, might be drawn into the alliance were scuttled when Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country could take no part "in an attack on suffering, neighboring Muslim Afghanistan."

Egypt, one of Washington's closest Arab allies, also voiced doubts, saying that Washington should make its case to the international community before using military action

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, scored a diplomatic coup by winning a show of U.S. support for his fight with rebel separatists in Chechnya

Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, now globally isolated, continued to defy U.S. demands that it surrender Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, the man suspected of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks.

Shukan ST: Oct. 5, 2000

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